I know this has been covered in previous years, but nothing recently. TiVO Premiere is less than a year old, no problems til recently it started freezing for about 10 seconds, then starting back up either at the spot it froze or 10-15 minutes afterward. Rewinding to the spot, it played fine. It only happens maybe once a night, and only during playback. It does not reboot, as some earlier commenters have said. TiVO suggested I blow some canned air into the fan and see if that helped...it did not. They said they would replace for something like $79 bucks...I asked if I could swap for a new Roamio (plus some cash) and they hesitated, so I didn't take it any further than that. Question is...does this mean my hard drive is going? Am I better off swapping, or just getting a new one, or getting this one repaired at someplace like Weaknees.

Are you on lifetime service or is this a four tuner box? If so, fixing it owuld be fine. I would not put in a bunch of $$ into a two tuner monthly box- you could probably fine one cheap on CL and use it for parts. I just got one for $20.

If you are thinking about upgrading the drive, I would just put the $$ to a ROAMIO.

Are you on lifetime service or is this a four tuner box? If so, fixing it owuld be fine. I would not put in a bunch of $$ into a two tuner monthly box- you could probably fine one cheap on CL and use it for parts. I just got one for $20.

If you are thinking about upgrading the drive, I would just put the $$ to a ROAMIO.

Thanks for the reply - the box is a two-tuner Premiere and no lifetime service. What concerns me is the box is 9 months old, and I don't think that's a fair amount of time to junk it. I paid 199$ for it new, I'm sure TiVO will offer some kind of "swap" deal, probably for around 80 bucks, where I"d get a reconditioned box with the same specs. I would like to upgrade to a Roamio, but not for full price, since I barely got a year out of the HD. I"ll try calling sales and see if I can get some kind of deal.

Run the kickstart hard drive tests, you may have a few bad sectors creating the problem. If you run the full test it will re-map these sectors and your hard drive should work with out the occasional freezing.

Run the kickstart hard drive tests, you may have a few bad sectors creating the problem. If you run the full test it will re-map these sectors and your hard drive should work with out the occasional freezing.

Thanks for that. How do I run the full kickstart test? I remember doing this several years ago on an older TiVO, but didn't save the instructions. Which one of the kickstarts (52, 57...) checks the hard drive and re-maps the bad sectors?

Thanks for that. How do I run the full kickstart test? I remember doing this several years ago on an older TiVO, but didn't save the instructions. Which one of the kickstarts (52, 57...) checks the hard drive and re-maps the bad sectors?

54 fixes hard drive problems
( I usually run the SMART test all the way through including the offline test)

Thanks for that. How do I run the full kickstart test? I remember doing this several years ago on an older TiVO, but didn't save the instructions. Which one of the kickstarts (52, 57...) checks the hard drive and re-maps the bad sectors?

Kickstart 54 is the one that invokes the S.M.A.R.T. routines contained on the drive itself, but I think you'd be better off to remove the drive, hook it to a PC, and run the drive manufacturer's own diagnostic software long test.

57 and 58 deal with the TiVo software on the hard drive.

I'd run KS 58 first, and see if the problem persisted, and then move on to drive removal if necessary.

(While you've got the lid off you can eyeball the power supply capacitors just to be thorough, though it seems it's only S2s and S3s have the "capacitor plague" problems, and you can check the operation of the fan.)

Kickstart 54 is the one that invokes the S.M.A.R.T. routines contained on the drive itself, but I think you'd be better off to remove the drive, hook it to a PC, and run the drive manufacturer's own diagnostic software long test.

57 and 58 deal with the TiVo software on the hard drive.

I'd run KS 58 first, and see if the problem persisted, and then move on to drive removal if necessary.

(While you've got the lid off you can eyeball the power supply capacitors just to be thorough, though it seems it's only S2s and S3s have the "capacitor plague" problems, and you can check the operation of the fan.)

Kickstarts are initiated by button presses. Its either that or something more drastic like opening up the box. Those codes are easy to use and, if you are having problems, are the first step to resolution.

I started the Kickstart #54 about an hour ago...as soon as it started, it came up with three "Fail 7"s under short test, conveyance test and extended test. The estimated test time is close to 200 minutes...my question is...should I keep it running, since it already has 3 "fails"? The screen says you can cancel the tests and I can't see what good keeping it running is going to do. Someone told me that I should have run the #57 test, because that one fixes errors in the hard drive. If you're answering this in a timely manner, should I cancel the test currently running and do the 57?

. .... Someone told me that I should have run the #57 test, because that one fixes errors in the hard drive. If you're answering this in a timely manner, should I cancel the test currently running and do the 57?

This is probably too late for you, but when I was recently having a problem with my P4, the tech told me that a KS 57 *may* kill the unit. Angered me and scared me enough I insisted they send out a replacement next-day-air (brand new unit so warranty applied). In reality, I had already done a KS57 that a previous tech told me to do without kindly giving me that warning. The warning comes up on the KS57 screen.

Oh, I just thought of something else that may or may not apply. I recall once having playback issues with my S2. I thought for sure it was a goner, but it turned out I had too much stuff on it. I cleaned out a bunch and all was well ever since.

In hindsight, that could have just been a workaround to avoid bad disc sectors, but ya never know.

Unless the repair can be done with one of the kickstarts, sounds like an upgrade is in order.

Do your upgrade before the next OS push (should be in the next week). If they push a new OS and it has trouble writing to the disk, the new OS may fail completely. Many people end up with failed units after an OS push.

If you upgrade now when the new OS comes you will have a known complete system on a good disk.

On a Premiere 2 tuner box, it is NOT the blue and amber lights that flash to denote a successful entry of a KS code. It is the GREEN and AMBER lights that wig-wag. That is, the two lights to the LEFT of the TiVo icon in the middle of the fascia (as you look at the device). So, if you're waiting for the blue light to flash, don't.